_11

_11

Back from the summer break, we resume our weekly recommendations on art market books. For anyone who has ever wondered how art meets its price (and specially why), we propose to turn to the valuable expertise of Philip Hook. His narrative in Breakfast at Sotheby’s: An A-Z of the Art World is full of wit and humour and his thirty-five years’ experience in Sotheby’s and Christie’s has turned him into a genuine specialist in the field. “‘Breakfast at Sotheby’s’ is a wry, intimate, truly revealing exploration of how art acquires its financial value, from Philip Hook, a senior director at Sotheby’s. When you stand in front of a work of art in a museum or exhibition, the first two questions you normally ask yourself are 1) Do I like it? and 2) Who’s it by? When you stand in front of a work of art in an auction room or dealer’s gallery, you ask these two questions followed by others: how much is it worth? How much will it be worth in five or ten years’ time? and what will people think of me if they see it hanging on my wall? ‘Breakfast at Sotheby’s’ is a guide to how people reach answers to such questions, and how in the process art is given a financial value. […] Comic, revealing, piquant, splendid and absurd, ‘Breakfast at Sotheby’s’ is a book of pleasure and intelligent observation, as engaged with art as it is with the world that surrounds it.” (2013, Particular Books)